Nosiphiwo Mzamo: South Africa’s State Diamond Trader to buy diamonds from other African countries

South Africa’s State Diamond Trader (SDT) is set to buy diamonds from other African countries starting with Botswana. SDT’s chief executive Nosiphiwo Mzamo told Rough & Polished’s Mathew Nyaungwa at the country’s inaugural diamond show, which...

10 february 2025

Edahn Golan: Halo effect from lab-grown diamonds driving high demand for large, 2-carat natural stones in the U.S.

Edahn Golan, owner of the eponymous Edahn Golan Diamond Research and Data, told Rough & Polished's Mathew Nyaungwa in an exclusive interview that their research found a halo effect from lab-grown diamonds. He said the trend among lab-grown diamond...

27 january 2025

Paul Zimnisky: We will see a modest recovery in natural diamond demand and prices in 2025

According to Paul Zimnisky, an independent diamond and jewellery analyst and consultant based in the New York metro area, the natural diamond industry will see a modest recovery in demand and prices this year. Zimnisky said a moderate recovery would...

13 january 2025

African Diamond Council makes traceability its top priority, wants KP to embrace Authentia.io

The African Diamond Council (ADC) has made traceability its foremost priority and has been contributing to a traceability solution called Authentia.io for the last three and a half years, which is now ready to globally satisfy the traceability...

16 december 2024

Gaetano Cavalieri: CIBJO leading the jewelry industry on critical issues

One of the gem and jewellery industry’s most well-known and respected personalities, Dr. Gaetano Cavalieri, has been the president of the World Jewellery Confederation (CIBJO), for the past 23 years. CIBJO is the oldest international organisation...

09 december 2024

Botswana reassessing the HB Antwerp agreement after Lucara severed ties

02 october 2023

The Botswana government is reconsidering their partnership with HB Antwerp after Lucara Diamond terminated their sales agreement with the Belgian gem trader, according to President Mokgweetsi Masisi.

Lucara cited failure to meet financial obligations as the reason for ending the deal, triggering the need for further assessment by Gaborone.

"We have now learnt that the deal between Lucara and HB is off due to financial issues as it has been reported. It is for us now to determine the course of action we are going to take," Masisi was quoted by Reuters as saying at a press briefing.

Botswana agreed to buy a 24% stake in HB Antwerp earlier this year and supply them with rough diamonds for five years through the state-owned Okavango Diamond Company.

HB and Lucara signed a diamond sales agreement in 2020, which was renewed for a further 10 years in 2022.

HB Antwerp, a diamond processing and trading company, dismissed one of its three co-founders, Oded Mansori, from management in September due to disagreements about the company's direction.

Mansori plans to file a lawsuit against the company for wrongful termination.

Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished